The Georgia Libertarian Party is in the Eleventh Circuit in its ballot access case over U.S. House petition requirements. Cowen v Raffensperger, 24-13164. The state’s brief had been due on February 17, but the state asked for another month, and that request has been granted.
On February 14, the North Dakota House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee defeated HB 1287, which would have set up voter registration. North Dakota is the only state without voter registration. The Secretary of State had opposed the bill, saying it is expensive, bad for voters, and unnecessary. When people vote in North Dakota, they simply show ID that contains their address.
On February 6, the Wyoming Senate passed SF 98, which says that in school board races, the party affiliation of each candidate should be listed. On February 12, the Wyoming House Corporations Committee also passed it.
There would be no party nominees in school board races, so the labels don’t mean that the party approves of any particular candidate.
Wyoming doesn’t permit voters to register into non-qualified parties. The voter registration form doesn’t have a blank line for party choice; it just has checkboxes for the qualified parties, plus a box to register as independent.
Bills have been introduced in both houses of the New Hampshire primary to move the non-presidential primaries from September to earlier dates. HB 481, with five sponsors, moves it to the second Tuesday in June. SB 222, with two sponsors, does the same. HB 408, with two sponsors, moves it to late August.
The deadlines for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to file declarations of candidacy and petitions, are tied to the date of the non-presidential primary. If the state moved the primary to June, and didn’t decouple the independent deadlines, independents would need to file a declaration of candidacy as early as March. Even presidential independents must file, so that would be unconstitutional under Anderson v Celebrezze.
On Friday evening, February 14, newly sworn-in Health & Human Services head Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., rescinded layoff notices for employees of the Indian Health Services. See this story.
